N. Koreans helping Pakistan's missile program, newspaper reports

TOKYO -- North Korea has bolstered Pakistani missile programs with new technology and components and now Islamabad can match India's capability, Asian defense sources said.

The sources said North Korean scientists and engineers were recruited by Islamabad to work on Pakistan's missile programs and completed their work last month. The result is improvements in Pakistan's Ghauri missile, Middle East Newsline reported.

The Tokyo-based Sankei Shimbun said a 15-member North Korean delegation is preparing to leave for Pyongyang imminently. The newspaper quoted sources in the Pakistani government.

U.S. intelligence sources said North Korea has been selling technology and expertise to the missile programs of Egypt, Iran, Libya and Syria. They said Pyongyang has been offering the Taepong Dong-1 missile, with a range of nearly 2,000 kilometers.

The government in Islamabad has denied that North Korea has helped developed Pakistani missiles and insists that Ghauri is an indigenous project. The Ghauri missile is said to have the capability to carry a nuclear warhead.

"It is baseless and completely without any foundation," a Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

But Asian sources said a North Korean Foreign Ministry official visited Islamabad last month to oversee the end of Pyongyang's involvement in the Ghauri project.

Pakistan has received help in developing nuclear weapons from China, U.S. intelligence sources said. The sources said a Chinese-build nuclear reactor at Chashma has begun operations.

The China Nuclear Corporation said in Beijing that the Chashma facility was 300 megawatts and was connected to Pakistan's power grid. The company said the nuclear plant is expected to be fully operational by the end of the year.